Arts and Culture

Overview

To support the arts in India is to support the millennia long cultural traditions that form our intricate past, and the contemporary art practices that will inform our future. The creation of art, and participation in it, is a crucial part of any community’s development and a strong conduit for its expression.

The challenge

Rapid social changes are bringing about an accelerated deterioration of the country’s rich and varied heritage. India’s monuments, museums and historical archives that are the living repository of the country’s heritage, are decaying mainly on account of ignorance, lack of funds and the expertise needed to conserve them for future generations. Our rich tradition of performing arts faces a conundrum – how does one preserve the integrity of the art form while integrating into present cultural practices? How can audiences, vital in the performing arts, be educated in the understanding of dying out, less heard or seen forms and the newness of emerging ones? How do we preserve the high standards in art education and bring in more innovative forms of delivery?

The strategy

In identifying gaps in the art sector, the portfolio works across three major areas – conservation, performing arts and art education. These verticals are not addressed independently; instead, the programmes overlap across the three focus areas so that the impact is long-lasting, and moreover, can be built upon by the organisations in the years to come.

In addition to supporting projects in the arts, the Tata Trusts have also initiated their own platform in 2017 — Kalapana. Conceived as a two-way celebration, Kalapana is a platform to showcase organisations and artists supported by the Trusts, and to explain how the Trusts make these choices to support them — through discussions, exhibitions, talks, screenings and performances.